The chancellor and health secretary have resigned from government, saying they no longer have confidence in Boris Johnson to lead the country.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the public expected government to be conducted "Properly, competently, and seriously".
Health secretary Sajid Javid echoed this, saying the government was not "acting in the national interest".
The resignations came minutes after the PM apologised for appointing MP Chris Pincher to a government role.
Mr Johnson admitted that he had made a "bad mistake" in appointing Mr Pincher to the role of deputy chief whip earlier this year, despite being made aware of the MP's conduct.
In a interview with the BBC, Mr Johnson said "In hindsight it was the wrong thing to do. I apologise to everybody who has been badly affected by it."
His handling of the row has fierce criticism from some of his own MP's and the opposition.
But Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove and other cabinet ministers are backing the prime minister as he assesses the scale of the rebellion against his leadership.
In a tweet, culture secretary and Mr Johnson loyalist Nadine Dorries said she was "100% behind the PM who consistently gets all the big decisions right".
The resignations of two senior cabinet ministers has plunged Mr Johnson into a fresh leadership crisis weeks after he survived a no-confidence vote.
The PM is immune from a Conservative leadership challenge until June next year under party rules, after he won 59% of the vote.
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This article has been written for educational purposes, the information for the article has been taken from BBC News.
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